34 pages • 1 hour read
This Is Our Youth
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Act I, Pages 30-80Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Act I, Pages 30-49 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content and substance use.
Warren pulls out his suitcase filled with 1950s and 60s toys and other memorabilia, hoping to make back the $200 he spent out of his father’s money. Dennis hates seeing the objects that remind him of his childhood and tells Warren to put them away. He decides to call Jessica and a girl named Natalie (who he cheated on his girlfriend with last summer) and invite them over, and he suggests that he and Warren buy an ounce of cocaine. Dennis’s plan is to snort cocaine with the girls, have sex (and hopefully set Warren up for sex as well) and then sell the remaining cocaine. The plan confuses Warren, but Dennis’s confidence is unyielding and Warren agrees. Warren argues that he should make most of the profit, but Dennis insists that he himself deserves half for being the connection.
Dennis calls his dealer, Philip, who isn’t home. Moments later, Dennis’s girlfriend calls and he invites her over. She mentions that she’s friends with Jessica, and Dennis insists that she come too. Dennis calls a friend named Stuey, tells him he’s going to “borrow” some cocaine off him, and goes on a tirade about how he’s owed the favor anyway.
Dennis wonders if they should just get heroin instead. Warren boldly suggests doing speedballs (heroin and cocaine together). Dennis thinks he’s more talk than action, and that heroin is a bad idea. He tells Warren that if he wants Jessica to like him, he should avoid mentioning the death of his sister (who was murdered a decade before). Dennis implies that it’s time Warren get over the loss.
Dennis’s friend calls back and offers to sell an ounce of cocaine. Dennis leaves with Warren’s money to go buy it, along with some champagne. Before he goes, Dennis tells Warren that he’s intelligent and interesting, and just to be himself when the girls arrive.
Act I, Pages 49-61 Summary
Warren imitates Dennis and waits for Jessica to buzz twice before letting her upstairs. Jessica is 19, intrigued by Warren, and tends to be nervous and defensive while being simultaneously friendly. Warren gives Jessica a kiss on the cheek and invites her inside, adding that Dennis and his girlfriend won’t be back for half an hour.
Jessica admits she doesn’t want to do “too much” cocaine and hopes that she isn’t being set up on a date with Warren. She pulls out a cigarette and silence follows. Jessica eventually asks Warren why he got kicked out of his father’s house. Warren admits that he and his father just don’t align and explains that he has hopes of leaving the city. He has experienced the country life when he visited a friend in Wyoming, and he wants to be somewhere quiet and peaceful. College didn’t suit him, and he really just wants to relax and smoke pot. Jessica replies that she still lives at home and goes to school for fashion design. Warren replies that he doesn’t care much for fashion.
They have a lengthy philosophical discussion in which Jessica explains her belief that people change so much throughout their lives that they scarcely resemble the person they once were. As a result, in her view the present doesn’t matter, because one day it will be forgotten and she will be someone else. Warren disagrees, and believes people basically stay within the same parameters. He doesn’t see himself changing as he ages.
Jessica has already experienced changes from when she was younger and insists that she will continue to change. She observes that the hippie movement of the 1960s eventually died and gave way to a generation that craved money and stability as much as any before it, and she fears losing herself. Finding the conversation is becoming exhausting, she decides to drop it, and another silence follows.
Act I, Pages 62-80 Summary
Warren gets Jessica some water and they look at Dennis’s photos on the wall. Some of them have Warren in them, and Jessica marvels at Warren’s previously long hair. She asks about Dennis’s father, who is a well-known painter but who is currently severely ill. Warren comments on Dennis’s mother, a prominent social worker whose demeanor in her personal life doesn’t reflect her professional kindness. Jessica starts to defend the work of social workers, but Warren insists it’s only Dennis’s mother who is the problem.
Jessica notices Warren’s suitcase and looks inside, and unlike Dennis is intrigued by Warren’s collection. He shows her his Major Matt Mason and an old toaster that was known to explode, and Jessica remarks on how much she misses her own childhood toys. Warren’s favorite item is his grandfather’s baseball cap from the opening day of Wrigley Field in 1914. The same grandfather was also the first “Jewish aviator in the country” (69).
Jessica puts the hat on, and Warren tells her she looks good. When Jessica asks about Warren’s sister, he picks up the old joint and lights it as he explains that she was murdered by a man she lived with when she was 19. He doesn’t want to say much more, so he plays Frank Zappa records. Warren and Jessica dance together, casually at first and then slow and close together. They eventually kiss and end up on Dennis’s mattress. Jessica is worried about being walked in upon, so Warren suggests renting a penthouse suite for the night with some of the cash in his bag. Jessica agrees, and they leave together.
Act I, Pages 30-80 Analysis
The play shows how sex, drugs, and money are all part of The Pointless Pursuit of Materialism. Dennis and Warren both come from affluent backgrounds and have never had to earn their own money, and it shows in the way that they both spend money recklessly. They indulge in things like cocaine and nights in hotels, having no concept of monetary value. In spite of their high cost, material objects and drugs do not make the characters happy. Though they crave something deeper, they do not know how to find purpose and meaning.
Dennis and Warren pursue drugs and sex to escape The Disillusionment of Adulthood. They live within a sort of dreamlike state, apart from reality. Although Warren sees how Dennis’s plan to buy and sell drugs over the weekend is flawed, he allows Dennis to do it anyway. Dennis calls Warren “my little love machine” (40), demonstrating Dennis’s casual attitude toward sex and his perception of it as something to gain rather than something to give or to bond over.
Dennis and Warren’s friendship is complex and ridden with conflict. They both have strong personalities and each see the world differently. Dennis is entitled: He believes that people owe him for all the favors he has done over the years. He thinks Stuey should do whatever he says, and takes Warren’s pot despite Warren’s protests. Dennis sees himself as some sort of savior, and places himself in a position above his peers. He monologues about how his personality defines the people around him, and how he is always there to help people out of desperate circumstances. While he has helped people, his bragging and arrogance sour his positive acts.
Dennis cares about Warren, but his attitude and tone are hurtful. The result is that Warren never knows how to read Dennis’s intentions. For example, Dennis comments on how Warren still has photographs of his sister. While Dennis is only trying to push Warren to let go of the past, he comes across as callous and lacking empathy. Dennis also manages to compliment and insult Warren all within the same few minutes.
Jessica appears about one-third of the way through the play. The introduction of her character alters the atmosphere and the dynamics between the three major players. Jessica is clearly nervous. She arrives dressed up and ready to impress, while Warren and Dennis have hardly prepared for her arrival at all. Her appearance contrasts with the surrounding environment, and her personality with Warren’s cooler and casual demeanor. Jessica is argumentative and challenging, and suspects Warren’s intentions. He has to work to impress her and prove his depth, and Jessica surprises Warren by sharing his interest in objects from the past. When Jessica puts on Warren’s baseball cap, it foreshadows the awkward moment the following day in which he attempts to give it to her. It is also a symbol of their shared longing for a time period that no longer exists.
Jessica and Warren enter into a philosophical discussion that exposes the heart of the play. She alludes to the way people change as they age, as well as how corporatism and materialism have taken over American culture: “I’m not talking about the last pathetic remnants of—Upper West Side Jewish…liberalism. I’m talking about the mainstream, and it is such a joke. I mean, I definitely feel that evil has like, triumphed in our time” (58). Jessica reveals that she thinks about the world around her, while Warren reveals his desire to leave the city and the materialistic life behind. Jessica fears the person she will eventually become; being near Warren, who seems so connected to his childhood self, is comforting to her at first. Jessica mistakes this comfort for affection and ends up sleeping with Warren.
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